House £s? Garden 
THE USE OF THE PORTICO 
where and in every form. Where extravagant 
display is aimed at, the lofty piano lamp 
appears. In the shades and ornamentation 
of these there is a quite inordinate show of 
cut-glass pendants, such as went out of fashion 
in America twenty-five or thirty years ago. 11 
comports excellently well, nevertheless, with 
the mirror glass so extensively used in the walls 
and windows. And incidentally, the introduc¬ 
tion of manifold lamps creates a demand for 
Russian oil from the wells at Baku, which in 
past centuries, before Mohammed and his 
Arabs came, was the great natural temple and 
altar of the Zoroastrian fire-worshippers. 
To return to mirror glass: it is utilized, 
in rich interiors, wherever the slightest excuse 
offers; in the arches of the windows, where 
it is arranged in showy and often beautiful 
designs, with plenteous leading, in the use of 
which the glaziers seem quite expert; in large 
pier and panel plates, to set off or relieve the 
wall decoration and add an effect of spacious¬ 
ness. It is mosaicked into frescoes and other 
mural ornamentation, in small pieces, for the 
production of high lights; and with the 
manifold lamps employed, it is very effective. 
In one of the accompanying illustrations may 
be seen a striking but not unusual way in 
which the mirror glass is used. Sliding 
windows, reaching almost to the floor and 
working laterally, when open leave the whole 
side of the apartment, practically, open toward 
the garden. The center of these windows 
is of ground glass, which while admitting 
light when the window is closed, balks the 
peeper without. T he border, resembling in 
conformation the arch of the prayer rugs, is 
inlaid with the mirror glass, inside and out, 
which makes a curious effect of light, whether 
the windows be open or shut. In one of 
the pictures referred to, the likeness of the 
window to the prayer design happens to be 
369 
